Address 
of the Duke of Loubat 

Honorary President 

OF THE 

Thirteenth International Congress 
of Americanists 



HELD AT THE 



American Museum of Natural History 
in the City of New York 

October 20-25, 1902 



Ube Iknicfjerbocftec Stress 



Address 
of the Duke of Loubat 

Honorary President 

OF THE 

Thirteenth International Congress 
of Americanists 



HELD AT THE 



American Museum of Natural History 
in the City of New York 

October 20-25, 1902 



trbe 'Knicfietbocltet Pki 
new l^orf! 



A 



Address of the Duke of Loubat on Opening of the After- 
noon Session, October 20, 1902. 

Ladies and Gentlemen. — When these International Congresses 
were organized, in 1875, it was understood that they were to be held 
only in Europe. At Stockholm, in 1894, however, a special session was 
granted to Mexico for 1895, although at the same time the Netherlands 
were chosen as the place of meeting for the regular Congress of 1896. 
As this last Congress was never convened, the Societe des Americanistes 
of Paris took the matter up, and a regular one was held in Paris in 1900, 
at which some new regulations were adopted. One of the two most im- 
portant of these was that thereafter the Congresses should be held alter- 
nately in America and in Europe, but could not be held twice consecutively 
in the same country. Thus the next Congress, two years hence, will be 
held in Europe; and the following, four years hence, in either North or 
South America, but not in the United States. The other important regu- 
lation was that six vice-presidents, and no more, should be elected for 
each Congress ; namely, two from the country where the Congress was 
being held, and four from among the ofi&cial foreign delegates. Accord- 
ingly you have elected as vice-presidents gentlemen representing France, 
Germany, Mexico, and Sweden, as Congresses have already assembled in 
Paris, Berlin, Mexico, and Stockholm; the two remaining ones you have 
divided between the United States and the Argentine Republic. 

It is customary, at the opening of each Session, for the Presiding 
Officer to pronounce a eulogy on the distinguished Americanists who have 
departed this life since the last meeting took place, and also to give a 
summary of what has been done in our science since the last Congress 
was held. This will, b&'^ooe b^ fehj;:geptlem'^ who* will in turn occupy 
the chair. : /:.•"./':'..;;..; .1:: : I 

Now, ladies and gentlemen, as I have had so many Mexican Codices 
reproduced, I have bjeeri-ask€id/tq'.9^)?'a;few wojis concerning them. I 
expected to do this ofi' SafilTrdiy lie'xf, "s'6 t'am not'feady, and must crave 
your indulgence if I only give you a few notes that I have hastily written 
out. 

As you all know, there are several kinds of Mexican Codices: 
namely, — 

Religious Codices: The Vaticanus No. 3773, which has been in 
the Vatican Library for over three hundred and fifty years ; the Borgia, 



2jWy'G3 




of the Propaganda Fide; the Borbonicus, of the Chamber of Deputies at 
Paris, which formerly belonged to the Escorial in Spain, etc. 

Historical CoiDiCEs: The annals of Chimalpahin. 

Tributary Codices (Tax-Rolls): The Humboldt Codices of the 
Royal Library of Berlin. 

Peregrination Codices : The Porfirio Diaz of the Museo Nacional 
of the City of Mexico. 

Title Deeds, which are numerous, etc. 

As you all remember, Itzcohuatl, the fourth king of Mexico (1427-40), 
wishing to annihilate everything relating to the histories of the ancient 
nations which had inhabited the Valley of Mexico previous to the arrival 
of the Aztecs, ordered their annals to be burned; and thus were destroyed, 
among others, those of the Acolhuas and of the Tepacanacas. 

You all know that on the thirty-first day of December, 1520, the 
Tlaxcallan allies of Cortes set fire to several palaces of Tetzcoco, and 
among others to the superb one built by Necahuilpilli, the fifth king of 
Tetzcoco, who died four years before the arrival of the Spaniards, and 
that in this palace were the archives of the kingdom, and many other im- 
portant documents, which were thus destroyed. 

You also remember that the Codices were intrusted to the care of 
the priesthood, and were kept by them in the temples, and that when the 
Indians took a city in time of war, they immediately burned the temples 
and the many archives contained therein. 

At the inauguration of the Great Temple of the City of Mexico in 
1487, under Ahuizotl, the eighth king of Mexico, 80,400 prisoners of war 
were sacrificed, according to Brasseur de Bourbourg, although the Codex 
Telleriano-Remensis states the number to have been only 20,000. 

You will now understand, ladies and gentlemen, that civilization de- 
manded the abolition of these human sacrifices. This was the reason 
why the friars destroyed all the idols and all the religious codices they 
could lay their hands on; but you must also remember that they very 
carefuly collected everything relating to the history, the customs, the 
religions, etc., of the ancient inhabitants of that part of America, and that 
all that we know about these people is due to the writings of these very 
monks, and especially to Father Sahagun, the learned Franciscan, whose 
General History of New Spain ought to be translated into English. 

I now call to the chair Professor F. W. Putnam, the vice-president 
for the United States. 

LefC, 



LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 



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